Hawthorne has a big speed bias, if you bet a closer, you have no chance to cash. Management should do something, else people will start betting elsewhere...... How difficult is it to make the track a fair place to race, bet............ Yesterday, was an exception..... And don't talke to me about pace, horses go to the half in 45 on the lead and come home in 1:13 and change and still win. Most races are over at the half mile pole............. Please fix the track

Yeah, they should just "fix" the track, to your liking -- especially for such an erudite student of the game, who just outright dismisses pace...and likely, race conditions, wind, temperature, etc., and all of the other factors that have exactly ZERO bearing on a race: Track Bias Is King.

I stated yesterday was a rare exception, perhaps you need a to take a class in critical reading. Check the charts daily my friend. If you are saying that there is no speed bias at Hawthorne, then your opinion is misguided at best. Learn the game laddie.

I stated yesterday was a rare exception, perhaps you need a to take a class in critical reading. Check the charts daily my friend. If you are saying that there is no speed bias at Hawthorne, then your opinion is misguided at best. Learn the game laddie.

Yeah, I saw your flimsy "exception".

Tell me something, Genius -- what exactly is it that the Track Superintendant does to make a speed bias magically DISAPPEAR for one whole day -- and then magically REAPPEAR another day?

"Learn the game laddie": I do just fine at Hawthorne -- you're the one complaining. Maybe you should read a book or two. Start with Tom Brohamer's excellent book Modern Pace Handicapping. Report back when you've learned something.

You didn't answer the question......... Are you saying that Hawthorne does not have a speed bias?? Please read this post slowly.... perhaps you can comprehend its essence.

No. If you knew anything about pace, you'd see that most of the recent wire-to-wire winners are doing so by setting soft fractions (consider the whole race, thank you, not just the occasional sub :22 1st quarter) against mostly inferior competition in the weaker races.

Sunday was an "exception" you say (and speaking of unanswered questions...), so let's look at the 4 wire jobs in the t-bred races on Saturday:

Race 1: Catchthegroom goes 22.31, 46.13, 58.85 and crawls home in 1:12.34 at 2/5on vs. 6 in N3L company. He was the lone in-form legit speed at ML 9/5. In his previous race at Hawthorne, which he won, he went 21 3/5, 44 4/5, 57 2/5, and 1:11 1/5...so in raw terms, he ran about 5 - 6 lengths slower than last time...and still won.

Speed bias? Or inferior competition?

Race 2: Class N Charm goes 22.75, 47.16, 59.66, and finishes in 1:13 flat at even money vs. state-bred MSW -- a notoriously weak condition this late in the year. Even "Flat Earth Society"-types who disavow the effects of pace on a race would grudgingly agree that if you let anyone stumble home in almost 26 seconds after letting them get away with a 47+ half, they're gonna win.

No speed bias here.

Race 3: Score one for race-riding here, as E.T. suckers the field into letting R. Little Redhead set ridiculously slow fractions early (25.08, 49.49, 114.61!!) en route to an easy win. The only other "early speed" type in the race was Gravano, who failed to fire at 8/5.

See a pattern here yet, Genius?

Race 10: Golden Alphabet gets an incredibly easy lead and is 5 lengths clear after 6 furlongs, setting soft fractions 23.80, 47.21, 112.71, then does get a late challenge from Daytime Pleasure (who made up 5 lengths from the turn to the stretch on a track that "you can't close on")...but Golden Alphabet has just enough left for the extremely unimpressive win.

Saintly Scout was the only real early speed in this race but was clearly a suspect favorite, having hung in her last three races when challenged, so this race was ripe for someone to "step up" and take charge of the pace. Eddie Perez did, and he stole it.

Another field of suspect maidens, and taken off the turf so that muddles things further.

Hmm...maybe the Track Super just made the "Giant Speed Bias" go away for just the weekend?

Yes! Hawthorne does have a speed/rail bias. So what! Dont bet any closers. Where do you bet? Do they not allow you to bet speed horses? Is someone holding a gun to your head and making you bet a closer? Its part of the game.

Thank you Alydar..... HV your lengthy diatribe says it all, you know little about pace or horse racing in general. But thank you for responding to my post, always good to see experts like yourself make an azz out of themselves. Have a wonderful day. No need to reply to this post, but if you cannot control your self, please be my guest. I am through with this topic. Hawthorne bas a speed bias and to infer or claim that it does not is assinine. Learn the game laddie.

Hawthorne has "favored" speed horses for as long as I have been paying attention to races.

I think some of it is our jockeys. One guy bounces out onto the lead and no one goes out there to challenge even if there's 3 other horses in the race you expected to challenge. There's no move until the top of the stretch. So there's no killing pace and the horses near the front end up in the exacta. It isn't like California where it seems like every lead is contested. Or if there's a race where you expect some horse to have a lone lead, all of a sudden a 45-1 no-hope horse is out there pressing the leader all the way, I guess on the theory that if the jock gets the horse to the front today just might be the day. Or even if there are two or three horses vying for the lead it's not like anyone is really trying to put the other guy away, and the fractions are still soft. I swear there is a rule at Hawthorne that every route dirt race has to go in :24 :48 no matter if it is a hotly contested pace or a lone leader.

Closer horses have a chance it just has to be in a race where, a) It looks like there's going to be some contention for pace, and b) the jockeys actually do what you mapped out on paper. b) is the hardest for me to figure out.

Hawthorne has "favored" speed horses for as long as I have been paying attention to races.

I think some of it is our jockeys. One guy bounces out onto the lead and no one goes out there to challenge even if there's 3 other horses in the race you expected to challenge. There's no move until the top of the stretch. So there's no killing pace and the horses near the front end up in the exacta. It isn't like California where it seems like every lead is contested. Or if there's a race where you expect some horse to have a lone lead, all of a sudden a 45-1 no-hope horse is out there pressing the leader all the way, I guess on the theory that if the jock gets the horse to the front today just might be the day. Or even if there are two or three horses vying for the lead it's not like anyone is really trying to put the other guy away, and the fractions are still soft. I swear there is a rule at Hawthorne that every route dirt race has to go in :24 :48 no matter if it is a hotly contested pace or a lone leader.

Closer horses have a chance it just has to be in a race where, a) It looks like there's going to be some contention for pace, and b) the jockeys actually do what you mapped out on paper. b) is the hardest for me to figure out.

Good explanation, Terry. Easy Score, you have to realize Hawthorne Voice is a little biased as far as bias at Hawthorne is concerned. He should be more open-minded like me!

I think there is more of a rail bias than a speed bias. More speed horses are going to win because they are usually leading on the rail. As far as Sundays races. There was a very strong wind out of the west. The wind was in there faces in the stretch. Thats why they were crawling home. Also Hawthorne hasnt always been a speed biased race track. It used to be in the winter, horses would come from last and be 7,8,9 wide on the turn and win going away. You could always count on that.

Alydar, that makes sense concerning the rail bias, I have noticed that also. The management of Hawthorne should fix this problem. Its unfair to the owners with horses that come off the pace.

Yesterday it seemed like they were all trying to stay a few paths OFF the rail.

Alydar doesn't agree with me but my opinion is that, at least for the last 10 years or more, Hawthorne and its jockeys have always played this way. It's nothing that just happened this year. Those races with the outside horses swooping from last, those are what we call the "outside box" races, generally real cheapies where the front runners die and everyone behind them gets bottled up, so what's still running on the outside gets up. IMHO.

Every track plays to fronrunners somewhat. They don't get in trouble, they don't get blocked, and they don't have sand in their eyes. Sandier tracks like Haw are even harder on horses than tracks with less sand, like AP.

During the 80's and i do not know when this changed was a dead back(deAD RAIL) track in November and December. When the whether was cold the more they closed. I have not noticed this trend over the last decade. Anybody know why? Is it because the winters are milder, track surface, chemicals on track? If you indentify a bias at track why would you complain it is huge advantage.

A closer that can't win vs. the weak-assed level of competition Chicago racing has this time of year probably won't ever win, anywhere, because they are conditioned by guys who can't train a gopher to run down a hole. It's always easier to blame the track...and keep the owners paying and paying and paying: "someday...someday...when they fix the track, we'll get 'em...um, this month's bill is $3200".

I think you'll find, on average, any track any where any distance any size field any horse gets within 5 lengths of the leader at ANY one point of call has a chance to win. Including, of course, the leader. Just the way it is.

The action in the 3rd was pretty weird. Probably, I guess, a bad signal.

It's the windy city after all. It is windy. My cat got blown clear across the porch, pretty funny to see. And might make for dangerous racing conditions, hitting (or being hit by) a wall of wind.

I made the decision to stay home today and skip the last day of contest since I thought this cancellation might happen. Last I saw on the Haw video Laurajean was still in the lead. Wonder what they did with it? Let's hope they declared her the winner. Then we'd have a real live handicapping contest winner (besides RSR and some others who have won contests) on the forum, and John Frank would be soooooooooooo jealous.

Hey Horse Shit: Do you actually watch races at the PALACE. All you have to do is be on the rail in strech and YOUR THE F###### WINNER. I did not go to offtrack today. WIND: WHO GIVES A F###. Did they cancel because it was blowing in there f###### face in stretch and front runners would LOSE. Shove that biased track and those who believe you have to know how to handicap speed to win. There is no such thing as handicapping speed when 5 are SPEED. And in that situation a lurker should win. F### your piece of shit biased track.

I came in 18. Greg Olson came in 1st. After the 3rd race we had to handicap 4 races from 4 different tracks 10 at Churchill, 6th at Hollywood 5th at Golden Gate and I believe the 7th at Turf Paradise. At least I learned how much I hate to handicap on the fly. Would have preferred to have had the contest stay at Hawthorne but nothing I can do about it now. Next week is another chance.

Thanks for the kind words. yes he and his brother go to the rebel enclave at Arlington. Came in on the 2nd week and got to 4th place. I have to admire both his handicapping and money management skills.

Hey Horse Shit: Do you actually watch races at the PALACE. All you have to do is be on the rail in strech and YOUR THE F###### WINNER. I did not go to offtrack today. WIND: WHO GIVES A F###. Did they cancel because it was blowing in there f###### face in stretch and front runners would LOSE. Shove that biased track and those who believe you have to know how to handicap speed to win. There is no such thing as handicapping speed when 5 are SPEED. And in that situation a lurker should win. F### your piece of shit biased track.

Thanks for the kind words. yes he and his brother go to the rebel enclave at Arlington. Came in on the 2nd week and got to 4th place. I have to admire both his handicapping and money management skills.

Steve, are you going to be in the buy-in contest?

Laurajean

Thanks for the info, want to congratulate him next time I see him, that's great news.

I plan to enter, would have if I'd made it there over the weekend. I trust you've entered, you've been quite competitive in tournaments so far.

When I won the 2nd leg I got a free entry into the buy-in contest. There is going to be another contest this Sunday and the top 5 winners all get free entries into the contest. I have learned so much by entering these contests. I am going to see if I can earn another entry.

This Sunday, open entry, up until about 12:30 on Sunday, I believe. I regret that I've only been able to make it twice so far, but I was able to walk-in and enter both times. Come on out! Good tournaments!

Thanks stat man! Can you bring in Drf, lap top and other tools to the contest? Thanks again Mark

Mark - Don't want to sound rude but...... why in the world would one not be able to bring a Racing Form to a handicapping contest? All handicapping tools are welcome, although I'd rather have John Franks at my side for assisitance than any racing software program.

Thanks stat man! Can you bring in Drf, lap top and other tools to the contest? Thanks again Mark

Bring anything you want. If you want to plug in a laptop you probably need to get there kind of early to get a spot by an outlet. There's a few spots like that out in the general 3rd floor table area, but most are in the handicapping center. Don't know if there are outlets in the carrels in front of the big screens?

well for people who dont like the bias im sorry to inform you its probaly only gonna become more prominent the colder the weather gets. like some1 said earlier in the thread tho if you spot 1 ata track take advantage of it. the "new" sportsmans park had 1 and god did i love it, i probaly won literally 75% of the days i bet racing there! if you werent within 2 lengths of the lead turnin for home you had no shot the majority of the time! maybe it was becuase sportsmans had the longest stretch in the biz and people just assumed closers would make up ground in the lane becuz of that i dont know, but for some reason most people never seemed to catch on

Maybe you havn't noticed,but the other 20 tracks are speed biased and fixed also.

So what does that mean, that the five months of Arlington is the only non-biased, non-fixed meet in all of racing? Why do you even bother going to Trackside during the non-Arlington months then, if all the other tracks are all so biased and fixed?

Terry: I never said Arlington was clean and special. There all speed biased except for the last bet I made at Dover Downs a few nights back. He was a closer. I am now a specialist at handicapping both flats and standardbreds. THAT MAKES ME THE BILL CLINTON OF THIS FORUM.

Terry: I never said Arlington was clean and special. There all speed biased except for the last bet I made at Dover Downs a few nights back. He was a closer. I am now a specialist at handicapping both flats and standardbreds. THAT MAKES ME THE BILL CLINTON OF THIS FORUM.

The Bill Clinton of this forum. I'm not even going to ask what that means.

John Frank please read the thread about the Haw Sunday contest. Limited time offer in there.